Dance our way out of obesity

something2say

From the below article it looks like we are heading for a place in the top ten obese countries of the world. (13 at the moment - or at least at the time the survey was completed) Not a good list to be in the top ten of, is it?

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_obe-health-obesity

One of the best ways to lose weight is through Dancing. It burns plenty of calories and is fun. Have danced for years now and I love it and I'm fit as a fiddle.

I know its not the only way to loose weight but I have talked with so many people that would like to lose weight and see dancing as a great fun way to do so, BUT when I suggest taking classes, they shy away. The ones that don't shy away say there are no good classes out there. All the classes they tried are too complex or no fun etc etc,.

Whats the problem? Are Dubliners too lazy or are the dance schools poor in this part of the country?

Gummy Panda

All I could think of when reading the OP is this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBMom-IHwuU

something2say

That's my point exactly. The whole country should be dancing like "the dancing priest". All our troubles would be over yeh?

Hanley

something2say wrote: »

That's my point exactly. The whole country should be dancing like "the dancing priest". All our troubles would be over yeh?

Ummm no. It's not JUST a lack of exercise. It's what we eat too!

TommyKnocker

Honestly can't see a 1 hour dance class once or twice a week doing much for weight loss.

I'd say if you were training for Strictly Come Dancing 6-8 hours a day 6 days a week, then yes, you would probably lose weight if you did not increase your food intake drastically. But as I said, IMHO doing a 1 hour class once or possibly twice a week may not produce the quickest results and I think folks would get disheartened if they were not seeing results quickly.

ferike1

Lol at father Ted.

+1 for diet, for weight loss/gain it is the main factor

As long as takeaways remain this popular and people keep getting high calorie ready made meals & loads of snacks obesity will be on the rise.

The dominos in Tallaght is one of the busiest in the world apparently, which is saying something!

Fintan O'Toole was writing that Western society will collapse due to the ever rising cost of obesity.

cc87

Just a random thought of sorts that ive heard a few people talk about recently. Is there too much focus at the moment on peoples diet and obesity and not enough on getting people more active?

Peoples average overall calorie intake has not increased dramatically enough to account for the increase in obesity but the average expenditure has decreased significantly.

A person with a healthy weight but low level of fitness has a higher chance of death from all causes than a fit but fat person.

One study I heard cited showed that a fit 80 year old has a lower chance of death than an unfit 60 year old.

There is more and more evidence that peoples level of fitness (cardiovascular in particular) is what has the greatest effect on life expectancy. Yet everyone is focused on weight and diet.


Someone threw up something on twitter yesterday saying "Diet makes you look good with clothes on, exercise makes you look good naked". Obviously this doesn't include the fit fat people i spoke about but isnt this what most people want when they talk about their weight and figure etc but repeatedly the advice they get is to control calories, eat healthy etc.


P.S. Im just playing devils advocate of sorts here. Im not saying dont worry about diet once you get your 30 minutes of exercise a day or whatever is recommended these days.



Also.....people dont want to dance because Irish people cant dance

something2say

I take TommyKnocker's point on board, I can see how some people would get disheartened if the results were slow but surely slow results are better than no results. Dancing once or twice a week would slowly improve the fitness levels, maybe build a little confidence and self belief.
Also, it is shocking to think that Dominoes in Tallaght is one of the busiest in the world.

ferike1

I think its the amount refined sugars that people are eating too. Surely 100 calories from a mars bar and 100 calories from brocolli can't be the same?

Gummy Panda

ferike1 wrote: »

I think its the amount refined sugars that people are eating too. Surely 100 calories from a mars bar and 100 calories from brocolli can't be the same?

Yes and no is the simplest answer. A calorie is a calorie but the macronutrient breakdown is important as well.

Barry.Oglesby

The problem is that dancing is ****. Everyone is afraid to admit this because it seems like everyone likes it. They don't. A few spangly fabulous people do, but everyone else hates it. Even at the height if dance culture, people had to take extraordinary amounts of ecstasy just to get through an evening of dancing. Once the drugs wore off everyone went home to do what they actually like to do which is listen to better music but on couches.

phasers

a lot of overweight people are self conscious about their bodies and don't want to be seen doing physical things like dancing because people will (not might, will) laugh at them. Sad but true.

Barry.Oglesby

phasers wrote: »

a lot of overweight people are self conscious about their bodies and don't want to be seen doing physical things like dancing because people will (not might, will) laugh at them. Sad but true.

Well they need to stop showing the montages of them dancing on tables on you've been framed then. It's creating a stereotype.